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SINGLES BAR
A round-up of EPs and singles that have come our way ‘Gladdie’ is the new single from AMY GODDARD and a taster for her forthcoming second album. It is inspired by letters sent to her great-grandmother during the Great War by a young soldier, one of four brothers none of ...
MAURA KENNEDY – Villanelle: The Songs of Maura Kennedy & B.D. Love (Varese Sarabande 302067339-8)
For Maura’s 20th anniversary solo venture, her second release since 2010’s Parade of Echoes, she’s taken a different route to her husband, teaming with the poet B.D. Love and putting a selection of his works, written specifically for the project, to music. Unlike Pete’s album, this isn’t a totally solo ...
PETE KENNEDY – Heart of Gotham (Self Released)
After making music together for twenty years, husband and wife duo Pete and Maura Kennedy have gone their separate ways. Well, sort of. They’ve not split up, but, as part of their personal and professional 20th anniversary celebrations they have, as well as the recent release of a duo album, ...
THE CASEY SISTERS – Sibling Revelry (Old Bridge Music OBMCD22)
I suppose that Casey is an Anglicization of Ní Chathasaigh. I have no real evidence; I’ve only just learned how to pronounce it, but the Casey sisters are Máire and Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh and Nollaig Casey so it’s a fair bet. Sibling Revelry (great title, by the way) is a ...
BATTLEFIELD BAND – Beg & Borrow (Temple COMD2107)
The idea behind this album is simple but the execution is rather less so. The Straits of Moyle are just twelve miles wide which means that on a clear day you can stand on the Mull of Kintyre and see the Ulster coast. Legends are full of conflicts between the ...
GILMORE & ROBERTS – Conflict Tourism (GR! Records GRR006)
I remember once, in Ireland, hearing that some American tourists’ idea of a fun day out was a taxi ride down the Falls Road. That kind of “thinking” forms the theme of this album, the fourth from Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts. The opening track, ‘Cecilia’, is a very powerful ...
HILARY JAMES – You Don’t Know (Acoustics CDACS 070)
After the explicit Englishness of her previous album Hilary James has taken an old direction. Those of you remember Spredthick will be very comfortable with this album – a collection of 20th century standards and classics. There is an argument that Hilary’s voice is rather too pure for some of ...
PHILLIP HENRY & HANNAH MARTIN – Watershed (Dragonfly Roots DRCD003)
Having walked away with the Best Duo gong at the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, there must have been a degree of pressure on Henry and Martin when it came to their third album. Which may or may not have had something to do with them taking a very ...
LUCY WARD – I Dreamt I Was A Bird… (Betty Beetroot BETTY01)
Born and raised in Derby, Ward was a BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award finalist in 2009, won the Horizon award (for best newcomer) in 2012 and her recording of ‘Maids When You’re Young’ nominated as best traditional track and, last year, was nominated for Folk Singer of the Year ...
The Grahams – Glory Bound (12 South GRAM003)
The fact that they’ve spent their lives together since they were kids goes a long way to explaining the chemistry between Alyssa and Doug Graham’s sophomore album, a 12 track Americana collection that mixes up the occasional ballad with more lively and rumbustious numbers such as the title track opener, ...
BARBARA PARRY AND PETE STEPHENS – Pearls And Wishes (Rough Ditch Folk RDFCB1415)
Barbara and Pete are local to our corner of Hampshire – so local that Pete was able to slip me copy of their album, almost surreptitiously, in a folk club. Sadly, it lacked the customary plain brown envelope and wad of used fivers but these are early days. To describe ...
CHAPIN-WICKWAR – If… (ChickWar)
I have two copies of If…. Lisa and Sue sent a note with the second copy explaining that there are “upgrades” but now I’m not sure that I haven’t mixed them up. I’m sure the upgraded version has the current website and an inner that folds the conventional way. The ...
TONY FURTADO – The Bell (Blue Rose BLUDP06630)
Hailing from Oakland, California with a Portuguese-Italian heritage, Furtado started playing banjo back in sixth grade, even knocking up his own DIY instrument. Since then, he’s gone on to carve a solid reputation in the roots music field, not only for banjo, but also on slide guitar, working both his ...
SHAWN COLVIN – Uncovered (Fantasy 0888072374157)
At some point in time, many an artist has released a collection of covers, usually songs celebrating their influences and inspirations, often, also conjuring a simple campfire or living room singalong with friends. This is Colvin’s second, following on from 1994’s Cover Girl, and, again a tip of the hat ...
PETE MORTON – The Land Of Time (Fellside FECD269)
I may have asked this question before but why isn’t Pete Morton a huge star? He’s a fine singer with an engaging stage presence and, more importantly, he’s a writer of superb songs, ten of which are to be found within this rather unassuming sleeve. So why isn’t his name ...
JESS VINCENT – Shine (Hatsongs HAT008)
Once again produced by and featuring Reg Meuross (who also co-wrote five of the 12 tracks) with regular collaborators, guitarist Marcel Rose and cellist Beth Porter joined by Pete Willis on bass and Graham Brown taking over from Roy Dodds (who handles the mastering duties) on percussion, Vincent’s third album ...
MARTIN HARLEY AND DANIEL KIMBRO – Live at Southern Ground (Del Mundo)
A celebrated guitar virtuoso, acclaimed for his work on Weissenborn and slide, Welsh-born Harley met upright bassist Kimbro in Nashville and the pair heading off to Southern Ground Studios to lay down an album that would, in the former’s words, represent “where I’m at musically at the moment.” As such, ...
BEGGAR’S BRIDGE – Short Stories Tall Tales (own label)
Beggar’s Bridge are a six-piece band from Hull whose music is rooted in the characters and history of East Yorkshire. Most of their songs are written by Alan Catton (guitar and mandolin) and vocalist Mark Pollard. Their style is acoustic folk-rock: Martin Hainstock’s bass doesn’t pound or chug and there ...
10 STRING SYMPHONY – Weight Of The World (Poppychop Records)
If Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer performed with acoustic guitars they would still be worth a second listen because their material is so good. In fact they play fiddles – two five-strings, hence their name – and banjo with their only support from occasional percussion and what they do with ...
SINGLES BAR
A round-up of EPs and singles that came our way HEATH COMMON’s new EP, Beatsbox, is released to tie in with Still Howling, a performance and symposium centred on Allen Ginsberg’s infamous poem. Common turns his very individual attention to stories of Jack Kerouac, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ginsberg and ...
GREN BARTLEY – Magnificent Creatures (Fellside FECD 2680)
Originally from Stratford-upon-Avon and now based in Dudley, Bartley recorded his third album in Wolverhampton with the increasingly legendary producer Gavin Monaghan, his first to feature his new touring trio of cellist Sarah Smout, Julia Disney on violin and piano and percussionist Leslie Glanville (the former two also providing harmonies), ...
VALLEY MAKER – When I Was A Child (Brick Lane Records)
Valley Maker is more a pseudonym than a band. At its heart is songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer, Austin Crane, and When I Was A Child is his/their first album. It’s a complex record, reflecting a complex man. He was born into a close-knit Bible Belt community, developed a taste for ...
NICKI BLUHM & THE GRAMBLERS – Loved Wild Lost (Little Sur Records)
I have say that pure country music really isn’t my thing – Americana, old-timey, even bluegrass I can get along with but … I guess the thing about Nicki Bluhm is that there is nothing pure about her music and it draws influences from wherever it will. At first hearing ...
BELLOWHEAD – Pandemonium (Navigator NAVIGATOR093)
Even before the final farewell tour begins Pandemonium - The Essential Bellowhead hits the streets just in time for Christmas lists everywhere. The tracks were reportedly selected by the band themselves and cover the band’s career from E.P.Onymous to Revival. Bellowhead didn’t launch themselves in a big way back in ...
O’HOOLEY & TIDOW live at The Live Room, Saltaire
What is there new to say about O’Hooley & Tidow? The Hum tour was almost over by late July and the songs well established after countless performances, although Belinda and Heidi never lose the passion in their music, and they are full of confidence. This, however, was O’H & T ...
JONATHAN DAY – Atlantic Drifter (Niimiika, Niimiika 157)
Having focused his last album, Carved In Bone, on the experience of years exploring the countryside of his native Shropshire, Day’s expanded his horizons somewhat with the follow-up, recorded on the hoof (largely on valve desks and two-inch tape), fuelled by his tours and travels through Finland, Greece, Thailand, the ...
SARAH DEERE-JONES – Wild Harp (own label FPCD012)
Wild Harp opens with a strange, other-worldly sound. It’s that of an Aeolian harp recorded in the stone circle at Castlerigg in Cumbria and it’s the wild harp of the title. Over it, Sarah Deere-Jones plays an improvisation on an electric harp. Sarah is a harpist who also sings and ...
OLD HANNAH – Iron And Wood (Self-Released)
An upcoming quartet from County Sligo, comprising Lucie Crichlow, Anthony Mannion, Luke Mercer and Leo Morris, they’ve not been together that long, releasing their debut EP, Irish Boys, last year. That earned them good reviews and audiences on their native circuit and attracted the interest of Steve Wickham from The ...
DANIEL KOULACK & KARRNNEL SAWITSKY – Fiddle & Banjo: Tunes From The North, Songs From The South (own label KCgreen300)
There is no need to explain what this album is about. Daniel Koulack (banjo) and Karrnell Sawitsky (fiddle) are Canadian musicians who play a modern version of old-timey whose material encompasses a couple of centuries or more. They open with ‘Goofing Off Theme’ by Pete Seeger, an accomplished banjo player ...
MADE IN THE GREAT WAR – Live at Forest Arts, New Milton
The show opened with Sam Sweeney stepping onto the stage and taking THE fiddle from its place in the spotlight. He played ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’ and ‘Jean De Paris’ before introducing Rob Harbron who joined him for ‘The Battle Of Prague’ and ‘British Grenadiers’. As Sam pointed ...
THE FURROW COLLECTIVE – Blow Out The Moon (Furrow FURR009)
Blow Out The Moon is a five track EP from The Furrow Collective: Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton. All the tracks are traditional except for the tune of the title track which was written by Lucy for a children’s verse found in a book called Far, ...
FY5: FINNDERS & YOUNGBERG – Eat The Moon (Swingfingers Records sf003)
Since Finnders and Youngberg doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, the Colorado quintet headed up by Mike Finnders and Erin Youngberg have adopted a rather shorter name. However, to ensure that old fans know who they are, they’ve also kept the two surnames, which makes it a bit of a ...
GENTLEFOLK – Into The Greenwood (Dharma DHARMACD23)
There have always been bands that ignore the conventional way of doing things. Back in day it was Comus, Amazing Blondel and Incredible String Band, although there were countless others. Now it’s The Owl Service and Trembling Bells. To those names add that of GentleFolk. Nigel Hoyle is the band’s ...
DEREK GIFFORD – Songs From The Past…Into The Future (WildGoose Records WGS412CD)
If you have spent any time in festival singarounds it’s pretty sure that you will have sung one of Derek Gifford’s tunes – the one he wrote for Keith Scowcroft’s poem, ‘When All Men Sing’. If you enjoyed those sessions and that song then you’ll love this album. Oddly, there ...
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Singer Songwriters From Home (Hemifrån MFH 1501)
Here’s a Swedish label celebrating the art of the singer-songwriter with the music of four US exponents: Greg Copeland, Keith Miles, Barry Ollman and Bob Cheevers – all experienced but not well-known outside their home country, hence the tag “Hidden Treasures”. The compilers and artists have worked hard to avoid ...
Wickham Festival 2015 – Reviewed by Simon Burch
Click on the photo below to see the full set... Staged in a corn field and with three stages linked by alleyways of food and crafts stalls, Wickham proved to be a good nursery slope for my family of first-time festival goers: no intimidating vast crowds and a relaxed atmosphere ...
KELLY & WOOLLEY – Papers In My Shoe (Clunk & Rattle Records CRLP 008)
It’s rare enough to hear a Cajun duo from East Anglia, rarer still to find one that sings ‘Jock O’ Hazeldean’. This would be my benchmark: Sir Walter Scott’s tale of attempted marriage has long been a favourite of mine. Matt Kelly and Gary Woolley say they have based their ...
SALLY BARKER – Love Rat EP (Old Dog Records 015)
Sally Barker’s appearance on The Voice brought her to the attention of a new audience and her joining Fotheringay reminded the rest of us that she is still here. Those of us fortunate enough to hear the rejuvenated band on stage also got to learn first hand what a fabulous ...
RACHEL TAYLOR-BEALES – Stone’s Throw – Lament Of The Selkie (Hushland HUSCD05)
Rachel Taylor-Beales' first three albums were the Kieślowski inspired colours trilogy beginning with the jazzy Brilliant Blue followed by Red Tree and Dust And Gold. Having taken a break from performing she now returns with a rather different sort of project. The subtitle tells you a good deal but the ...
PAUL MEEHAN – The Lower Road (own label)
Paul Meehan already has an impressive CV: North Cregg, Karan Casey Band, Na Dorsa and Lúnasa are among his achievements. The Lower Road is his first solo album. These ten instrumental tracks are mostly up-tempo and predominantly traditional. There’s a lot of overdubbing as Paul plays guitar, banjo, mandolin and ...
SEAMUS BEGLEY – The Bold Kerryman (IRL IRL093)
I frequently have to remind myself that there is more music out there than any of us can ever listen to – which is my excuse for not having come across Seamus Begley before. Seamus is well known as half of the Irish/Australian duo Ceolas and for his ongoing partnership ...
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Dust on the Nettles: A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967-72 (Grapefruit/Cherry Red CRSEGBOX030)
It was a time not only of music’s charting big names but also exploration by the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange, developing folk rock (Pentangle; Fairport Convention; Steeleye Span), folk boomers pushing boundaries (Mick Softley; John Renbourn to whom the box is dedicated with Clive Palmer), and also a ...
BETHAN AND THE MORGANS – Oddity (own label)
Initially Bethan And The Morgans’ debut album didn’t grab me. The opening track, ‘It Won’t Be Today’, begins with acoustic guitar and Bethan Edwards’ voice and my instinct was that I’ve heard it all before. It’s well done but… Midway through that first track James Rhodes’ electric guitar kicks in ...
AD VANDERVEEN – Presents Of The Past/Requests Revisited (Blue Rose BLUDP0658)
The Dutch singer-songwriter has been making music for some 40 years, but (while he’s collaborated with both Iain Matthews and Eliza Gilkyson) I’m willing to bet most out there have never heard of him. That’s their loss, since, possessed of a warm and wearied voice and, at times, variously recalling ...
CANNED HEAT – Songs From The Road (Ruf Records RUF 1218)
Back in the dim and distant past, in another life, when I was just getting into blues and rock, I encountered the delights of those “Kings of Boogie”, Canned Heat. It’s great to know that 50 years on they are still turning out their unique brand of blues and boogie ...
JOHN JONES – Never Stop Moving (Westpark Music 87277)
The Oysterband’s frontman has been also following a solo career since the release of Rising Road in 2009, although the band’s schedule has meant he hasn’t had chance to put together a follow-up until now. Recorded with his sometime side-band, The Reluctant Ramblers, who include guitarist Al Scott, fiddle player ...
TREMBLING BELLS/GALLEY BEGGAR Live at 229, London
Galley Beggar were about to premiere some of their new album, Silence & Tears, in front of a live audience and they were … not nervous but a little apprehensive about the reception the new material would receive. Of course, they had no need to worry. They began with a ...
JOHN CEE STANNARD & BLUE HORIZON – Stone Cold Sober (Cast Iron CIRCD 025)
Stone Cold Sober kicks off like a great party album with ‘I Don’t Want You Anymore’, a stomping old-timey blues. Like most of the album it’s written by John Cee Stannard, with his voice and guitar supported by Mike Baker on second guitar and Howard Birchmore’s harmonica which is such ...
KIRSTY BROMLEY – Time Ashore (Kizzy Records KIZCD02)
Time Ashore sounds like a set of songs chosen because Kirsty Bromley enjoys singing them which is possibly the very best reason. It’s some something an artist can do on their debut album and again at a stage in their career when they can afford to be self-indulgent. After two ...
IAIN MORRISON – Eas (Peatfire PEATFIRE006)
Iain Morrison is a musician, singer and composer from the Isle of Lewis. He is also the son of a distinguished piper but he’s moved some distance from the tradition – but not as far as you might think. Eas, which means “cascading waterfall”, is Iain’s sixth solo album and ...
ÁLYTH – Homelands (ANE Records CD103)
Ályth McCormack was born and brought up on the Isle Of Lewis but now lives in Ireland and this rather beautiful album links those two Gaelic traditions. She has made numerous albums, heedless of genre, and is as well known as an actor as a musician appearing in everything from ...
ROBERT ILLESH – To Horsenden (Opal Flame OFR-002)
Robert Illesh is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. To Horsenden is his second solo album but before you pigeon-hole him as a lone folky struggling in a garret, I should tell you that he’s spent the last couple of years playing in Yes tribute bands on the continent. It’s as ...
TOM MORIARTY – The Road (Driftwood Records DRIFTW008)
Tom Moriarty’s second album has been delayed by a potentially career-threatening injury. Since Fire In The Doll’s House he has released an EP and a taster single, ‘Me And The Sun’ which is included here in a tweaked and slightly enriched version – at least to my untrained ear. The ...
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Land Of Hope & Fury (Union Music Store UMS009)
Land Of Hope & Fury is a collection of contemporary protest songs – a compilation inspired by the realisation on May 8th 2015 of the enormity of what the British people had done. Not just the greedy and the fascists but also those too pusillanimous to stand up for what ...
THE PORTRAITS – Lions And Butterflies (Sensorypulse Records SPCD006)
What you might not know about music critics’ jobs is that the work can be boring, if not down right disheartening. Go ahead and roll your eyes now and grumble about first-world problems. Yes, critics have posh jobs. Still it’s tiresome to hear artists’ sermonize about “organic” processes that lead ...
FUNKE AND THE TWO TONE BABY- Balance (Self Released FKE004)
If you’ve not encountered him before, the name might expect some sort of Bootsy Collins style psychedelic funk, but those in the know will be well aware that FATTTB is Rochester’s self-styled one-man mechanical alt-blues band, Dan Turnbull, a dynamic storm of acoustic guitar, harmonica, pedals, beatboxing, stompbox and bass ...
STEVE TILSTON – Truth To Tell (Hubris Records HUB008)
Although he’s just turned 65, has been making music for 44 years and released over 20 albums, the Liverpool-born folk singer-songwriter, now based in Hebden Bridge, has never had quite as high a public profile as this year. The release (and disappointingly quick disappearance) of Danny Collins, an Al Pacino ...
MAÍRÍ MACINNES – Gràs (Puffin Recordings PUFFIN01CD)
I’m fortunate in that I get to hear albums of Gaelic song that I wouldn’t otherwise know about – it’s not a major topic of conversation here in Hampshire – but rarely one as splendidly varied as Gràs, or Grace to render its title into Béarla. This is an album ...
THE TEACUPS –Of Labour And Love (Haystack HAYCD008)
Usually associated with the older generation of traditional folk singers, unaccompanied singing is making something of a comeback, not just with the occasional a capella number on an album or in the live set, but rather as a full-fledged style of performance. The recent success of The Young’Uns in the ...
KEITH JAMES – Always (Hurdy Gurdy Music HG2925)
For the past 15 years, James has been inextricably linked with the music of Nick Drake, performing well over 1000 of his ‘The Songs of Nick Drake’ concerts, and, more recently, ‘The Songs of Leonard Cohen’, a Spanish themed show featuring Classical and Flamenco guitar and the poetry of Pablo ...
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